William c



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l l Letters .Patent No. 72,636, dated December 2.4, 1867. A

IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR GRINDING AND POLISHING GYLINDRIGAL CONGAVE SURFAGBS.

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To ALL WHOM 1T MAY conocen: j

Be it known that I, WILLIAM C. HICKS, of New vYorlnvof New York county, in the State of New York,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Finishing up Concavc Surfaces; and Ido'herebydeclarc that the following isa full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,

making part of this application. v

Previous to my invention it has been customary to turn out -and finish the interior or internal cylindrical surface of steam-engine pump and other cylinders with alslritable toolarranged" upon an ordinary boring-bar,- (the cylinder being operated upon being generally secured to the carriageof a lathe, and the boring-bar mounted and turned on the lathes centres.) It has been found exceedingly diilicult, if notimpossible, in practice,'to turn out and iinish, with any very-great degree of perfection, the interiors oflcylinders by this well-known and Ibelieve universally-practised modc'of operation. Y l v v My invention has forl its lobject to overcome all the practical dilculties heretoforev encountered in the operations of boring and finishing the interior of cylinders, and a'ord'a means by which any concave oreylindrical surface may be nished very' readily to a state of great perfection, both as to accuracy of curvature and smoothness of surface; and to these ends rny invention consists in the employment of one or more rotating grindingwheels, or disks, or cutters, in combination with a suitable sustaining-bar and driving-mechanism, the whole so arranged and operating that the said rotatory grinding-disk or disks may be made to rotate in contact'with'the surface to be iinished, while said surface is made to reciprocate, as will bepresently more fully described.

To enable those skilled in the 'art to makeand use my invention, I will proceed to describe it more fully,`

referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, in whichl Figure 1 is an elevation of an apparatus adapted to carry out my invention. Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinalrsection of the same. V I Figure 3 is a vertical cross-section at the line x a', iig. 1, and

Figure 4 is a vertical cross-section at the line yy, iig. 1. In the several figures the same part designated bythe same letters of reference.

A is a shaft o'r bar, which should be mounted to turn freelyionv centres lib, and which may be provided .witha pulley, C, by which, through the medium of a driving-belt, the necessary rotatory motion may be imparted to the said shaftA; or, where said'shaft is placed in the centres of an ordinary engine-lathe,- itY may be driven from the face-plate of such lathe in thcvmanner usually adopted for turning work in a lathe. At the end of said shaft A (opposite to that at which it is coupled-to the lathe or receives its driving-pulley C) is secured upon it a lianched disk or collar, D, upon which sarranged a driving-pulley, E, in the manner clearly shown in the drawings, which is formed and arrangedso as to drive from its internal surface (either by friction or gear-teeth) a wheeLf, which is'keyed on to the end of a small shaft, G, mounted -to turn freely in boxes formed in the stands t t. This shaft G carries the grinding and polishing-wheels or disks i z", which are intended te operate upon the cylinder-surface to be finished up. The stands t t, if deemed expedient, may be so arranged with' the shaft or b ar A as to be adjustable, in order that the shaft G, with its grinding-wheels it', may be set nearer to or further from the centre of motion of bar A, for the purpose of electing a greater or less degree of cutting or grinding of thestock being operated upon. The; pulleyE is driven by a suitable bclt, c, and should be made to rotatc'much more rapidly, in the same direction, than the main shaft A..

In figs. 2 and 4 I halve shown, in blue lines atm, the cylinder which is supposed to be undergoing the operation of being ground and finished at its internal surface, and at o the carriage to which it is secured, and by which it is carried along in the directionof its own axis and that of the main shaft A.

The operation of such-an apparatus, as just described, will be readily understood to be as follows, viz: The cylinder to be finished (having been ipreviously bored out very nearly true by means of an ordinary boringA bar and turningetool) is adjusted and secured upon the 4reciprocating carriage o in such a manneras to be as nearly as possible concentric with the circle in which the grinding-wheel travels. The main shaft A and thel Icounter-shaft G,being thon cach set in motion, and the carriage o made to move along, the cylinder'mis carried along, while the rapidly-rotating grinding-wheels it z are carried around within it and againstits internal surface, (as clearly illustrated at iig. 2,) whereby the'interior ofvsaid cylinder' is perfectly ground and nished in a very short time. This operation maybe'repcated to give a still higher nish to the cylinder-surface. if desired, by either substituting, for thc grinding-wheels,'others of a little greater diameter, (and, if expedient, of a different material or character,) or by adjusting the shaft G so as to cause the wheels or disks .to take a fresh bite, and then passing. the cylinder along again in contact with the rotating grinders.

It will he seen and understood that, by means of a grinding-disk, tor series of tl1em,) or rotating cutter, travelling around in a circular orbit, while rapidly revolving on its own axis, the concave 'surface with which such grinder or cutter comes in contact will be ground or .cut away in a perfect circle, and that by imparting at the same time a perfectly straight reciprocating motion to the work, the interior of the cylinder will be ground or out t o a perfectly cylindrical shape, and at the same'time may ber given an exceedingly smooth or polished surface, which are desiderata, long desired, andof the highest importance in many kinds of worl.

It will be readily understood, by the skillful mechanic, that the details of construction of an apparatus to carry out my invention, may be varied according to circumstances and thc character of the work to he done.

In iinishing up small cylinders, I'propose to insert the main bar (such as seen at A) in an ordinary engine-lathe,

and mount the cylinder upon the carriage ot' the lathe, and Ihave practised my invention in this way very successfully. p

In iinishing the interior of very large cylinders itl may be found necessary to rig up the apparatus so that, while the cylinder remains stationary, the grinding-wheels shall not only travel around within the cylinder and rotate on their axes, but also travel along longitudinally in the cylinder, and variousarrangements of the details of the apparatus may be adopted to carry out this idea, the gist of my invention consisting in having the grinders, or rotator-y grinding-wheels, roll, or disk, (or whatever may be employed as a grinder,) have, at the same time with their rotatory motion, a motion in the direction ofthe circle ofthe curved surface b cing operated on, while the cylinder moves along, (or the grinders move along within the cylinder, if deemed expedient.)

It may even be found expedient in some cases to rotate the cylinder in lieu of having the grinders travel around within it, but all such changes or transpositions of motions, it will be seen, do not vary the ciect pr'oduced materially, and are only different ways of carrying out my invention, and eifecting the same relative motions of the grinding-surfaces with the surface being ground and nished.

Having fully explained my invention, so that those skilled in the art can make and use it, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The method of finishing up concave surfaces, substantially as ,hereinbefore described, that is to say, by means of rotatory tools running in contact with the surface being operated upon, while the said tools and surface are moved (by any suitable mechanism) relatively to each other, in the manner set forth.

In testimony whereof, I have hereuntoset my hand and seal, this thirtieth day of August, 1867.

^ WM. CLEVELAND HICKS. [L s] Witnesses:

C. A. Scor'r, A. DE Lacy. 

